Scott Walker’s promise to create 250,000 jobs by 2015 may not be as crazy as some claim. But it also may not be as bold as the county executive says, either.
The winner of the governor’s race this year should benefit during the first two years of his term from what state economists are already projecting to be a significant rebound from the jobs lost during the Great Recession.
Add even modest growth during the final two years, and the next governor could be in the neighborhood of 250,000 more jobs over his first term without doing much to change the state’s business climate.
But that is a big if, said David Ward, president and founder of NorthStar Economics and a former finance professor. The recovery is expected to be uneven and there remains the chance the economy will do a "double tank," which could undercut any projected recovery.
"Two hundred fifty thousand jobs sounds like a big number, but when you spread it out over four years and you know you’re down 180,000 jobs from the recession, you can do it," Ward said. "But there aren’t any magic wands out there. The key thing is you can do it if the global and national economies move in the right direction."
– WisPolitics.com
